The Making of NHL 94 - 30th Anniversary Documentary

NHL 94 is largely considered one of the best sports games ever made. 30 years after its release we talk to the developers about that era of sports game design and the magic that went into the development of NHL 94.

Watch the "Pixelated Heroes" fan documentary here:

Noclip's work is 100% crowdfunded.

00:00 - Intro
02:28 - The Origins of Madden
06:38 - EA Sports Network
13:47 - Mark Lesser Sports Game Design
20:45 - NHL 94 Features
30:24 - Fights
33:14 - Testing & Production
36:28 - One Timers
38:42 - Maine Magic
42:01 - NHL 24
46:48 - The Series After 94
49:54 - Why is NHL 94 Special?
53:48 - CREDITS

Edited by Jeremy Jayne
Additional Editing by Danny O'Dwyer
Filmed by Jeremy Jayne
Gameplay Capture Frank Howley

Motion Design by Dan Silverstone (Pica)

[joaoreboleira]

Mark Lesser made an incredibly inspiring impression. So much of the brilliance of this game clearly comes from him, yet he still attributes it to the "Maine magic" without a hint of of irony or egotism.

Plus having to do it in isolation, with only occasional, if highly valuable feedback. Absolutely inspiring. Legend.

[shivanhaven]

Picture it: Christmas season in 1993, my mother took me to Sears to pick out my "Santa" gifts. Back then, Sears had a pretty robust electronics department and an excellent selection of videogames. I already knew I was getting Star Fox from one of my brothers so I was looking for something out of the box for a kid that grew up in north Georgia. The budget that was given to me allowed me to get two games that day. One that would forever change my life and the other was Jurassic Park. After walking around for a while and feeling dejected, I spotted a bin of games that must have been brought out when I wasn't paying attention. I walked over and sitting on top of the pile on sale was NHL 94. Keep in mind I had never followed hockey up to that point and really only knew about Gretzky. Something inside me spoke out and said to give it a shot so I picked it as my second option. On Christmas day, I popped in Star Fox and blew through the story pretty fast, granted it was fun; just super short. I moved onto Jurassic Park next and spent all of 30 minutes playing it and decided it was simply not a good game. Finally I popped in NHL 94 to see what it was all about and jumped immediately into an exhibition game with the default selected teams. Before I knew it, I had been playing the game for almost 8 hours. I was getting yelled at about needing to go to bed! Long story short, this crazy fun videogame is what got me into becoming obsessed with hockey to the point of where I worked for the Atlanta Thrashers (RIP) for a few years! Thank you Mark Lesser and Doug Wike!

[thomasbrock]

The fact that this game has an online community and multiple leagues running per year is a testament to its timelessness.

[umphreak]

I will always maintain the belief that this game created more new hockey fans than anything Gary Bettman did during his entire tenure as commissioner

[acompletespiral]

Mark Lesser saying so nonchalantly"...they changed the name to something like Looking Glass..." with a straight face had me dying.

[BobbyBoca]

The hours of game play with NHL 94 in my room with my friends on a cold winter night were amazing. . Damn I miss those day …😢

[ToddCrispies]

I lived in a huge neighborhood. So many kids had this game. We would post flyers on stop signs inviting anyone to get involved in tournaments. It would get INTENSE. The age gap ranged from 12 to 18. The game was responsible for our street hockey obsession. Every kid had a favorite team and would get an NHL jersey with their favorite team and player. The impact this game had is insane. NHLPA 93 was the game that turned me into a diehard Hawk fan. I live in Rochester NY (1hour outside Buffalo) and have been to every Sabres vs Hawks game since 96. I've been to 10 Blackhawk playoff games in the UC. 3 games vs Detroit at Joe Louis arena and game 5 of the 2013 Stanley cup final vs Boston. All of this started from NHLPA 93 and NHL 94. Best sports game(s) ever created. No other game in any genre has done what these have. Life changing.

[dannynhl]

Fact: Jaromir Jagr was in the first NHL Hockey game that came out on Sega Genesis only in 1991 and he's still playing professional hockey (overseas at moment) to this day at 53 years old. The Penguins are retiring his jersey in early 2024 so maybe he is finally hanging it up. Just wild to me. I know Nicholas Lindstom was in NHL 94 on the Detroit Red Wings CHK line as a rookie but he's been retired a decade say now and Jagr marches on.

[dantml]

There's not a single doubt. No sports game has this much playability and support A YEAR after release, let alone 30 years. Nhl94 is the GOAT!!!

[RXNFS]

Odd comment, maybe, but this felt so much like a holiday/Christmas special for some reason and that's actually really appreciated. Even knowing nothing about this game, it did feel like something special was in the air. Perfect for the season.

[NashEsq]

I put countless hours into NHL '94 when it came out, it was such a fun game! The attention to detail these gentlemen put into making it really shined through in the gameplay. I 'm not even a hockey fan!

[nottherocketman]

Danny, this was truly brilliant. NHL 94 is such a fond memory for me, and a huge reason why I l still love the sport today. It was a blast watching all this footage and remembering all those players just by their numbers. You all at Noclip continue to put out World Class work. Congratulations!

[TheBroadestBlue]

Man, you can see how much Mark Lesser put into the fighting system for NHL 94. If only some private/wealthy person could pass him a year's salary to re-program it into the game...especially seeing how fights would result from tension, and "tension" was built in such a great variety of ways. It makes me grateful to be a songwriter/composer who does not answer to a label or any other larger entity. I can't imagine having to remove a section of a piece, when all of the sections are interlocking and composed with each other in mind. I believe him when he says it was traumatic.

I find I hop back and forth between NHLPA 93 and NHL 94. 94 feels fuller and more complete, from the music and sound effects to the way a game plays out. I like that it keeps user records by name (allowing records to be kept for multiple people), and that it supports 4 players. The one-timers are great addition too, obviously. But the "rebound" effect is basically gone (a slap shot bouncing off the goalie), and the aiming of shots is hyper-responsive. Both of those things are still described in the manual, a carryover from the 93 manual, but in practice they've been janked out of the game. I find myself playing with the sole focus of setting up one-timers, whereas in 93 it seems like goals can happen in a bigger variety of situations. I also prefer the skating speed and momentum in 93, and fights. But then, playing *without* one-timers feels lame. In the end, both are great games, and this was such a fascinating look at the inner workings of early EA sports games.

[okatbikes]

I want to give you some praise for the HL doc that just dropped, I don't think you were credited nearly prominently enough.

Honestly, it could've been 6 hours and i'd have enjoyed it even more. Great work as always. Excellent to see you being paid by the devs to produce your stuff.

[TheClockchan]

I saw this game for the first time a few days ago when my sister was watching Swingers. It’s only on screen for a minute, but I could tell at a glance it was something special. It really drew me in! I immediately wanted to know more about it and lo and behold Noclip to the rescue! What a great instance of serendipity!

[monsterthrash]

It's still incredible to play today. Somehow they were able to capture the flow of hockey better than any other game before or since.

[SchwingyGaming]

I have fond memories of watching my dad play this with his friends back when I was little. Awesome to see you cover it all these years later!

[brujua]

What a great documentary! Your ability to get so perfect interviews is amazing, I don't know what but you certainly are doing some things right. Thanks so much

[addible]

The nostalgia is coursing through my veins. Still one of my favorite sports titles 30 years later.

[NHLCommunity]

Early Christmas present! Can't wait to watch this tonight. Your live stream preview from a few weeks ago had some fascinating tidbits that were discussed a lot on the NHL94 discord chat, like the fighting momentum and how much of the momentum system made it into the final game, and how it might affect competitive league & tournament play.
I know a lot of people don't like sports games, but NHL94 is the last NHL game without season mode, and should maybe be thought of as more of a vs game like a street fighter or even 2D rocket league (if you've ever seen 4-player NHL94..)